


The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

by ESawyer



Series: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year [1]
Category: The Book of Mormon - Ambiguous Fandom, The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: Also Kevin Price's gaydar? None existent, Awkward Flirting, Christmas, Connor is just pretty, Fluff, Kevin Price can do many things, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, but flirting is not one of those thing, it's barely there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21906286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ESawyer/pseuds/ESawyer
Summary: Solitude is pleasant. Loneliness is not.Kevin Price maybe believes in God, still believes in Santa and believes that no one should be alone on Christmas Day.Connor McKinley is lonely, mainly.
Relationships: Elder "Connor" McKinley/Kevin Price
Series: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922602
Comments: 13
Kudos: 82





	The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Kevin Price tunelessly sang along to the cheesiest Christmas songs on the worst Spotify playlist that he could find whilst he pinned up god-awful decorations in a tiny community centre in Salt Lake City. He had tried to be as inclusive as possible and put up decorations for all religious holidays in the month of December but it did not look nearly as nice as he had thought it would.

Still, the sentiment was nice and he was far too tired to pull it all down and start again. Tomorrow was a big day for him, and he wasn’t going to ruin it by tiring himself out over tiny details that didn’t matter. 

For the past three years, Kevin had rented out the smallest community centre in Salt Lake City - because it was the only one he could afford - and opened it up to people who would otherwise be alone on Christmas Day. It was the only reason that Kevin enjoyed Christmas, and the only thing that he really looked forward to throughout the year. 

It was hard, being alone. But there was a special sort of cruelty in being left alone on Christmas Day - a feeling Kevin knew all too well.

The phrase ‘you’re disowned’ had never come out of his parents mouths in the same way that ‘I’m gay’ had never come out of his. Those were just two things that were mutually understood between parent and son. His ‘coming out’ wasn’t as much of a big show like he had always imagined as it was hesitantly poking his head around the closet door and sneaking out in the hopes that no one would see him. It hadn’t been tearful confessions at the dinner table but Facebook posts pointing in the general direction of his being not at all heterosexual and turning up to Church one day wearing rainbow sneakers that almost gave his father a heart attack. 

The first time his mom suggested that maybe he shouldn’t spend Christmas with them, he had thrown up in the kitchen sink. That Christmas had been his worst; he couldn’t bear to tell anyone - not even Arnold - that he’d be alone for the day. He had instead spent it sat on the sofa and crying into a bowl of soup that he hadn’t even heated up properly. It was after that day that he decided that no one should have to feel the same way that he did, and it was then that he decided he’d start his little loneliness project. The first year had been quiet, with only 4 or 5 people in attendance, but it had grown since then, and his heart swelled with pride at the very thought of it. 

Kevin practically skipped out of the room, carefully locking up after himself and snapping a picture of the sign outside that he had spent painstaking three hours painting. 

**_‘WELCOME ALL:_ **

**_DON’T BE ALONE THIS CHRISTMAS/HANUKKAH/KWANZAA!!!_ **

**_FREE ENTRY, FREE FOOD AND A WHOLE LOAD OF FUN!!!!!_ **

**_(maybe even alcohol, but don’t tell the mormons),’_ **

He quickly uploaded the picture to his Instagram before heading home. December 25th was going to be a good day, he was determined of it. 

* * *

“We look ridiculous, Kev,” Arnold squealed. 

“I know! It’s great, isn’t it?” 

Kevin and Arnold grinned at each other through the mirror in Kevin's bedroom. They were wearing matching Christmas jumpers that were strangely fuzzy and so ugly that Kevin felt like the person designed it should at least get the Presidental Medal of Freedom. (When he had discovered that a button at the back made the jumper sing, he had almost cried out of sheer happiness). 

“Come on, bud,” Kevin said, “We’ve got to get all these boxes into the car,”

It took them three trips to get all the boxes of food and drink into the car, but it felt less like an errand and more like a treat. Kevin had not known how fun the most mundane of tasks could be until Arnold Cunningham had come into his life. 

“I almost forgot, I got us reindeer antlers!” Arnold said excitedly, pulling two headbands out of his bag when they were in the car. 

“We look _so_ ridiculous,” Kevin said as he slid the headband onto his head.

“We couldn’t look worse if we tried,” Arnold grinned, his antlers just about poking above his head of unruly curls.

“I love it,” Kevin said, turning the radio on and blasting Christmas music as loud as he could without bursting their eardrums. 

Five quite terrible renditions of Christmas classics later, Kevin pulled up outside the community centre and beamed at the sight of a small group of people already gathered outside. He recognised some from previous years and jumped out of the car, bounding over to them with gleeful yells of, “Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa!” whilst jumping up and down like the mature twenty six year old that he was. 

Christmas really was the most magical time of year, but even more so when watching people who would otherwise be alone laugh like there was nothing wrong. It was hard sometimes, knowing that the sound of their laughter might not be heard for another year, but it meant something that it could still be heard - even if it was just for one day. 

“Nabulungi says she misses you,” Arnold said, sidling over to him and waving his phone in his face. 

Kevin smiled, “I miss her, too. Christmas is weird without her,” 

Arnold nodded, looking uncharacteristically sad for a moment before his face broke into a grin again. 

“Only three days till she’s back! And then, in the new year, I think you should be thinking about finding Mr Kevin Price,” 

Kevin rolled his eyes, “You’re obsessed with me finding Mr Kevin Price,”

“Because you _deserve_ to find Mr Kevin Price,” Arnold exclaimed, “He’s out there, somewhere,” 

“I’m sure he is,” Kevin said, “but I’m not actively looking right now, Arn. I want to focus on-”

“If you say work, I’m going to dump all that gravy on your head,”

“-on...on other things,” Kevin said, “I want to focus on other things that isn’t just when I’m next gonna get dick,” 

“But you are _thinking_ about when you’re next gonna get dick, aren’t you?”

“Shut up,” Kevin mumbled, his cheeks turning red. 

He’d been single for a year - an almost but not quite depressing year - and it wasn’t just the sex he missed (but he did definitley miss it), it was feeling of being _wanted_ that he missed most. Of knowing that there was someone out there who enjoyed spending time cuddling and kissing him. He missed coming home to the occasional bunch of flowers and a tidy apartment where dinner had been cooked for him. (He also missed coming over something that wasn’t his own hand, but that really wasn’t the most important thing). 

He decided to focus on more important things instead, like how he was quite sure that he had figured out a way to make it so that his little loneliness project wasn’t just confined to Christmas which meant that he could finally quit his shitty office job. It also meant that he would never have to listen to Sandra talking his ear off about her unruly seventeen year old who was _definitley_ having sex which would have been fine if it weren’t for the fact that she was quite sure they weren’t using protection. Kevin had no idea how Sandra knew they weren’t using protection, and was quite frankly too scared to ask. 

Perhaps most importantly though, Kevin was not in the business to get burned again. His ex-boyfriend had turned out to be quite the dickhead, and Kevin still couldn’t believe that it had taken him so long to realise. 

Once the party was in full swing and Arnold had all the attention on him thanks to his quite terrible charades skills, Kevin crept outside for a moment of solace. He shivered slightly in the cold air and leant his head back against the wall.

Something he had learned to love is the feeling of being on his own. There was a difference between being on his own and being lonely. Lonely was isolating, suffocating and depressing. Being on his own was a welcome escape from the constant rush of life that almost always made him feel like he wasn’t moving fast enough to keep up. 

“Excuse me? Is this - is this that Christmas thing for lonely people?”

Kevin stood up straighter to look over at the person who was speaking to him; he was much younger than their usual clientele. In fact, Kevin was quite sure that they couldn't be that far apart in age as his eyes travelled over shockingly ginger hair and bright blue eyes. 

“Yes,” Kevin said quickly, realising that he had just been staring like the weirdo he probably was, “Yes. Would you like to come in?” 

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he said.

Kevin cocked his head to the side slightly, “You look scared,” 

“I’m not,” he said quickly, “I just - this is weird, isn’t it? I shouldn’t be on my own on Christmas,” 

“Shit happens,” Kevin shrugged, “and you’re not on your own. You’re here now, aren’t you? What’s your name?”

“Connor,” 

“Great! I’m Kevin, it’s great to meet you!” he grinned, shaking his hand, “Come on in,” 

“Wait,” Connor said hastily, “Um - weird question but...is it...uh, is it LGBTQ friendly?”

“What?” Kevin asked. 

Connor’s cheeks flushed, “Sorry. I should have known, I mean, I’ve never seen someone look so Mormon in my life. I’ll go somewhere else-”

“Oh, no, hang on!” Kevin exclaimed, “I’m not - I am gay friendly! I mean - no, I’m - I’m LGBTQ - no, wait - I’m gay! That’s what I’m trying to say - I’m gay. You’re fine, come in,” 

Connor looked slightly incredulous when he followed Kevin back into the community centre. He was inwardly kicking himself for being _so damn awkward_ everytime someone who was even slightly attractive looked his way. It was hardly his fault though; Connor was a little more than _slightly attractive_ \- more like dashingly handsome with a healthy sprinkle of adorable. As Kevin showed him to the kitchen and plated him up some food, he found himself very distracted by the freckles that were splashed across Connor’s cheeks and the way his eyelashes were so long that Kevin wasn’t sure if they did that naturally or not. 

“Have I got something on my face?” 

Kevin jumped, feeling his face heat up, “P-Pardon?”

“You’re staring at me,” Connor said, “Have I got something on my face?”

“Uh - no, sorry,” Kevin muttered, “I just - your eyelashes,” 

Connor frowned, “Sorry, what?”

“Your eyelashes,” Kevin repeated, “Are they - are they real? They’re very long,” 

“Yeah. They’re real,” Connor said. 

“Oh. Cool.” Kevin cleared his throat, “Anyway, I should - I should go and, uh.... enjoy your food, Connor,” 

Kevin distracted himself from Connor by avoiding Connor - this was technically against everything that he believed in, but it wasn’t his fault that flirting wasn’t a talent of his. He could do many things; he could organise Christmas parties, win a game of charades, convincingly pretend to be interested in Sandra’s life but flirt with someone? No, Kevin Price would not be able to flirt if his life depended on it. Nabulungi had tried to give him lessons once, but it had just ended with her laughing at him so much that it put him off ever trying to speak to someone after Jake. 

Fucking Jake. 

“ _Ohhh no_ , why are you thinking about Jake?” 

Kevin’s head snapped up to see Arnold stood in front of him, his anxious expression contrasted by his ridiculous jumper and reindeer antlers. 

“How did you know?”

“You had that look on your face,” Arnold shrugged, gesturing to Kevin’s face, “The ‘I hate Jake’ face,” 

“I’m not thinking about _him,_ I’m just thinking about - I don’t know...flirting?”

“With...Jake?”

“No!” Kevin exclaimed, “I mean with....well, no one in particular. Just in general. I’m bad at it, that’s all,” 

“Well you can just rely on your dazzling good looks, can’t you?” Arnold said, pinching his cheeks, “you’re a catch, Kev! And you know that-”

“If you swung the other way, you’d be all over me, I know,” Kevin sighed, “You tell me all the time,”

“But like _all_ over you, bud,” Arnold said, “You’re pretty,” 

Kevin stared, “...pretty?”

“Would you prefer handsome? Sexy? Fucka-”

“Thanks for the pep talk, Arnold,” 

“Any time!”

Maybe Kevin was just being presumptuous, there was nothing to suggest that Connor was even gay. He could have been _any_ of the letters in LGBTQ or none at all. He might have just not wanted to spend time with a bunch of homophobes, even if he was straight. He might have even been a Lesbian. How was Kevin meant to know?

In an attempt to distract himself from the mystery of Connor and his very long eyelashes, Kevin sought out the company of one of his favourite people in the whole world: Mrs Fredericks. She was an eighty-something year old woman who's husband had died five years previously, leaving her completely alone, and it broke Kevin's heart every time he thought about it.

“Are you alright, dear?” 

“Fine, Mrs Fredericks,” Kevin muttered, his eyes flickering over to where Connor was sat on his own, “absolutely fine,” 

“You keep on looking at that young man over-” she gasped, “do you have a little _crush_?” 

Kevin felt his cheeks heat up, “No! No, I don’t have a - no,” 

Mrs Fredericks raised her eyebrows at him, “It’s OK if you do, Kevin,” 

“I know, I know. I just - there’s no point. He’s probably not - he’s probably not even gay,” 

“Yes he is,” Mrs Fredericks said confidently. 

“No he isn’t,” Kevin said, “And even if he was, it doesn’t matter. I’m not here to find a boyfriend, I’m just trying to do some good,” 

“And you _are_ doing good, go and talk to him. He shouldn’t be sat on his own, anyway. That sort of defeats the point, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does defeat the point,” Kevin said, jumping up and grabbing two bottles of beer from the cooler at his feet, “So I am going to talk to him for completely _platonic_ reasons,” 

“Of course,” 

“But can you distract Arnold for me?” he asked, “I don’t want him, you know...ruining my uh...my platonic advances,” 

As Kevin walked over to Connor, he suddenly became quite insecure. Was he even walking right? He wasn’t entirely sure what constituted a normal walk, but he was quite sure that he didn’t have a normal one. He half hoped that Connor wouldn’t notice him walking over and he would just be able to run in the opposite direction, but then Connor caught his eye. 

“Hi,” Kevin said, sitting down next to him, “Can I sit?”

“You’ve already sat,” 

“What? Oh, yeah,” he laughed awkwardly, “Can I - Can I carry on sitting?”

Connor blinked at him, “Um, sure,” 

“I got you a beer,” Kevin said, holding it out to him, “If you even - I don’t know if you drink, actually. Sorry,” 

“I’m Mormon,”

“Oh,” Kevin said, “Oh. Sorry. I didn’t know. I’ll just-”

“No, that was a joke,” 

“Oh,” 

“I’m not Mormon. Not anymore,”

“Oh,” Kevin repeated. 

“Can I have the beer?” 

“Oh. Right. Yeah.” Kevin said, handing it back over to him, “Merry Christmas,” 

“Is it?” 

Kevin forced a laugh, "So...how are you?"

"Lonely, mainly," 

Kevin didn’t actually know what to say to that so took a swig of beer, only remembering at the very last moment that he hated the taste. He choked slightly and almost spit it all over Connor. Even he was aware that spitting beer over someone was probably the worst form of flirting. 

“You alright?” Connor asked. 

“Don’t like beer,” Kevin said, still choking but trying his best to hide it. 

“Why are you drinking it then?” 

“Forgot I didn’t like it,” 

“Has anyone ever told you you’re a little bit weird, Kevin?”

“Every now and then,” 

“You don’t have to talk to me just because you feel sorry for me,” Connor said. 

“I don’t feel sorry for you,” Kevin said, a bit too quickly for it to be believable but he couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. 

Kevin thought that he looked tired. _Exhausted,_ even. The bags under his eyes were too dark and too deep against his pale skin that looked ridiculously soft - and Kevin was (almost) sure that this wasn’t a serial killer-like thing to think. His hair, whilst clean, looked unkempt and like the closest thing that Connor had gotten to styling it was just running his hand through it. 

“Alright,” Connor sighed, taking a swig of his drink. 

They fell into silence after this. Kevin drummed his fingers against his bottle, trying to think of something to say because he felt like the conversation wasn’t going as well as he hoped. What he really wanted to do was google what the Hell he was meant to say, but they were sat on the same side of a tiny table and he didn’t want to risk the embarrassment of having to explain to Connor that he was so bad at flirting, he had to get google to help him do it. Unless Connor found that sort of thing endearing. Then again, Kevin didn’t even know if he was gay or not he was just _assuming_ he was gay and he had learned that he shouldn’t assume that sort of thing after many awkward conversations in bars. 

“So,” Connor said, making Kevin jump and almost spill beer down himself, “What made you do all this,” he gestured around the room, and Kevin couldn’t decide if he was the gay sort of camp or just camp in general. 

“My parents told me to stop spending Christmas with them so I set this up after spending one Christmas alone,” Kevin said. 

“They told you to stop spending Christmas with them?” Connor asked with a frown, “Why?”

“Gay and mormon don’t go well together in my parents house,” Kevin shrugged, “I haven’t been ‘disowned’ per say, but I’m also not really part of the family anymore,” 

“I’m sorry,” Connor said quietly. 

"It’s OK. I don’t really mind. Not that much, anyway. I think I’m better off without them,” Kevin said, “I don’t have to hide who I am anymore. That’s nice,” 

“This is my first Christmas alone,” Connor said, “My parents they...well they actually disowned me. It’s been a long time coming but...I don’t know, part of me thought that they never would, you know?” 

“So you’re - you’re gay?” Kevin asked. 

Connor snorted, “Is it not obvious?”

“Should it be obvious?”

“I just - I thought it was,” Connor said, looking down at his hands, “Did you really not think I was gay?”

“I didn’t want to assume anything,” Kevin said, “because - well, the last time I tried to flirt with a guy, he turned out to be straight and tried to smash a bottle of beer over my head,” 

“You’re flirting with me?” 

Kevin froze, “I mean, I’m not - I just - well - yes, but...I’m not very - I don’t know, am I?” 

“If you are, you’re not very good,” 

“Yeah, I know,” 

“But I don’t mind,”

“You don’t?” 

“No,” Connor said with a smile, “Carry on. It’s cute,” 

“Cute?” Kevin repeated. 

“Cute,” Connor said with a nod of his head, “So, you were saying?” 

After this, the conversation got slightly easier though Kevin was quite sure that his flirting still wasn’t very good on account of the fact that he wasn’t even sure if he was flirting or not. There was a fine line between being flirty and downright creepy, and Kevin wasn’t entirely sure that he hadn’t already crossed it with the eyelash comment.

When Connor casually mentioned that he had gone on in his mission in Uganda, Kevin had almost fallen off his seat. 

“Really?” He asked excitedly, “Where?” 

“You’re looking at the District Leader of Uganda’s District 8,”

Kevin gasped, “No way!” 

“What?”

“I was in District 9!” 

“In Uganda?” 

“Yeah!” 

"Crazy," Connor said, “So do you still believe in God?” 

Kevin shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe. It’s a bit of a jump to go from being so devoted to not believing in Him at all, isn’t it?”

“Not for me,” Connor said, “Though I’m not entirely sure I ever really believed in Him in the first place,” 

“I still believe in Santa, though” Kevin said, and he wasn’t even lying. 

Connor burst into laughter, and Kevin decided that he had the prettiest laugh that he’d ever heard in his life. He then made it his mission to make Connor laugh as much as possible, which wasn’t a very hard task - though Kevin put this down to his stupidity rather than his comedic prowess. 

“You know, I almost wasn’t going to talk to you tonight. I thought you were married,” Connor said, gesturing to his hand where he was wearing a ring, “but then I realised that the ring is on the wrong hand,”

“Oh, yeah, I got fake married in Vegas,” Kevin snorted, “and he gets very angry if I don’t wear the ring at all times even though he has a girlfriend,” 

“ _He_?” 

“Oh, Arnold, my best friend. He’s running this party with me tonight,” Kevin said happily, twirling the ring around his finger. It was the sort of cheap metal that made his finger green, but he couldn’t bring himself to mind that much. 

“....how drunk were you?”

“Not at all. Stone cold sober.” 

“That somehow makes it worse,” 

“Yeah...” Kevin sighed, “The whole point of the trip was for me to actually get married to my ex-boyfriend, but then I discovered that he’d been cheating on me for six months so that all fell through. And then Arnold came with me instead and we got fake married by Elvis,”

“Who on _Earth_ would cheat on you?” 

“My ex-boyfriend, apparently,” Kevin said, completely missing the compliment. “Anyway, I don’t want to talk about him. I’m over him. Even if it doesn’t seem that way,” he added quickly. 

“Well, I think you deserve better,” Connor said, shifting in his seat slightly and gently running his fingertips over Kevin’s shoulder, “both in love and in jumper choice. I mean, what _is_ this?” 

“What's wrong with my jumper?” Kevin pouted, “Arnold bought it for me!” 

“Aw, your husband buys you matching clothes? How sweet,” 

“He’s very caring,” 

“You’re very lucky to have someone like that in your life, you know,” Connor said, suddenly serious, “I don’t see that much of my best friend anymore. He lives in England with his boyfriend,” 

“I know I’m lucky to have him,” Kevin said, his eyes flickering over to where Arnold was enthusiastically dancing with Mrs Fredericks, “my dear, dear husband whom I love, despite how fake our marriage is,” 

Connor laughed quietly, and as he did so, his hand dropped from Kevin’s shoulder to his leg. He tried not to act like this simple touch was driving him insane, but his mind suddenly went blank and he could do nothing but smile blankly at Connor. 

“Are you OK, Kevin?” Connor asked, peering closer at him. 

“I, uh, I think I need some air,” Kevin choked out, “I’m just gonna -I’m just gonna go and get some air. It’s _really_ hot in here, don’t you think?”

“Um, not really,” Connor said. 

“I’m just gonna get some air,” Kevin said again, jumping to his feet, “Are you coming?” 

“Sure.” 

The moment the cold air hit him, Kevin came back to his senses. Only it wasn't all that great because he suddenly realised that he’d had a mini freak-out because someone had touched his leg. If that was how he reacted when someone touched his leg, he dreaded to think what might happen if someone was stupid enough to have sex with him. 

“Kevin?” Connor asked, “Are you OK?” 

“Fine,” Kevin said, turning to look at Connor, “Absolutely fine. It was just really hot in there, wasn’t it?”

“Did you get me out here because there's mistletoe above us?”

“Because there’s - _what?_ ” Kevin’s neck snapped up to see mistletoe hanging above them, “I swear it wasn’t - I didn’t - it’s...ugh, it’s Arnold. He’s _obsessed_ with mistletoe,” 

“I don’t mind,” 

“Oh,” Kevin said, feeling his heartbeat slow down, “OK,” 

“That means I want to kiss you,” 

“Oh,” Kevin said, feeling his heartbeat speed up, “OK,” 

Connor laughed, and Kevin suddenly realised how close they were standing. He couldn’t even remember moving this close to Connor in the first place, so maybe Connor had moved forward. Or maybe they had always been stood this close together. Or maybe he was just overreacting a little bit. 

“Is that OK?” Connor asked, “Can I kiss you?"

“Uh...yeah, yes. You - yeah,” Kevin stuttered, "What I'm trying to say is, yes, you can kiss me," 

Connor smiled at him and leaned forward, one hand resting on his shoulder. It was at this point that Kevin realised that he should probably be moving too and closed the gap between them, his arms hanging limply at his sides because _what the fuck do people do with their arms when they’re kissing someone?_

“I sense you’re feeling slightly awkward?” Connor asked softly, his lips still inches from Kevin’s.

“I don’t know what I’m meant to be doing with my arms,” Kevin admitted, “I can’t remember. What am I meant to do with my arms?”

“Just relax,” Connor said, putting his arm around Kevin’s waist and tugging him forward, “Relax and-”

“ _We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Good tidings we bring for you and your-”_

“Why is your jumper singing to me?” 

“Um, to spread Christmas cheer?” Kevin said, wishing that it would just shut up. 

“I think it’s working,” Connor whispered, leaning forward again. 

Kissing someone to the soundtrack of a singing jumper was not how Kevin had thought he was going to spend his Christmas, but he wasn’t mad about it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank-you for reading!! 
> 
> I accidentally uploaded this last night when I hadn't even finished editing because I am Not Smart. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed and Merry Christmas/Happy Whatever It Is You Celeberate!!!  
> <3


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